Vitrail Medium aka Watermelon Rhinestones Stones - Swarovski vs Czech

Posted by: Stefanie Brawner, Pretty Snazzy Vintage Jewelry & Supplies

02 September 2013

Vitrail Medium is more commonly known as "Watermelon Stones". The gorgeous colors have been blended for a rainbow effect. When you are replacing rhinestones, you may wonder why the colors aren't matching up. Here are the two that you see most commonly. The first is the Swarovski Vitrail Medium and the second is the Czech.

Rhinestones - Machine Cut vs Table Cut/Polished vs Fire Polished

Posted by: Stefanie Brawner, Pretty Snazzy Vintage Jewelry & Supplies

07 August 2013

One of the most common questions people have about rhinestones is what the difference is between machine cut, table cut or table polished and fire polished. A picture is worth a thousand words, which is why I'm putting in pictures, but here are the basic differences. The photos are a mix of Swarovski (Austrian) and Czech rhinestones.

1st Photo - Machine Cut (MC) - These have nice sharp facets like what you would see on a gemstone. They are the most expensive too! In about 2005-ish, Swarovski made major changes in their business structure. At that time the prices became substantially more for the "fancy" shaped machine cut stones - like 3 times as much by the time the European VAT taxes were added in. The round stones...

Swarovski Rhinestone Colors - Special Effects Colors

Posted by: Stefanie Brawner, Pretty Snazzy Vintage Jewelry & Supplies

13 June 2013

Here are some of the special effects stones that Swarovski does or has done. Swarovski changes these all of the time. The aurora borealis or AB finish is probably the one that is seen the most. This technique was "invented" by Swarovski in 1953 or 1955, depending on whose research you use. It is a rainbow-like iridescent finish. It can be difficult to identify which color is which because many times they looked very different from the original color. Swarovski has greatly reduced the number of colors that they put this finish on. The one in the chart is the most common - Crystal AB.

Other colors on this chart are:

Comet - A shiny metallic silver. Sometimes referred to as an imitation marcasite.

Jewelry Ring Album for Rhinestone Workshop

Posted by: Stefanie Brawner, Pretty Snazzy Vintage Jewelry & Supplies

08 June 2013

I did a rhinestone workshop in the fall of 2012 for an awesome educational jewelry group I'm with - Jewelry Ring. Here is the link to the album with some of the same pictures for cuts and colors all in one place. imageevent.com/thejewelryring/jrworkshoprhinstones.

Foiled vs Unfoiled Rhinestones

Posted by: Stefanie Brawner, Pretty Snazzy Vintage Jewelry & Supplies

07 June 2013

I get emails all of the time from customers asking me if I have an unfoiled rhinestone that they are looking for. I don't have much in the way of unfoiled rhinestones because it is much easier to get the foil off of a stone than put it on! So if you need an unfoiled stone, try looking for the same one that is foiled. It's very simple to get the foil off of a stone. Just make a 50/50 mix of vinegar (white or cider) and regular table salt. Soak your stone(s) in there for a day or two and the foil will come right off!

Tip - When you replace rhinestones, the old ones usually come out with part of the foil off of them. These are basically useless to use in the condition they are in but you can soak them in the salt and vinegar mix and...

Rhinestone Shapes - Baguettes/Rectangles Stones Article numbers

Posted by: Stefanie Brawner, Pretty Snazzy Vintage Jewelry & Supplies

05 June 2013

Here are some baguette shapes. People think of baguettes as being the small rectangular stones that you will see in fine jewelry. They are, but the the large rectangles that you see in rhinestones are also technically "baguettes". The difference between a baguette and an octagon is that a baguette has sharp right angle corners and the octagons are clipped of at an angle. The article numbers on this page include 4500, 4510, 4561 and 4527.

What to do about a vintage costume jewelry piece that has graying or spotting stones

Posted by: Stefanie Brawner, Pretty Snazzy Vintage Jewelry & Supplies

19 May 2013

So what do you do when you have a vintage jewelry piece that has graying or spotting stones? There isn't one answer. It depends on the piece itself. You have to take into account several things:

How easy would it be to replace the bad stones? Are the stones glued in or are they set with prongs? Prongs - especially the ones in chain - can be very difficult to change
out because the stones were (and still are) set by machine. And prongs
like to break. I'm not saying not to replace them, just something to
keep in mind. Glue in stones are usually (but not always) easier to
replace.

How many stones need to be replaced? Do you have just a few bad stones? If you would have a lot to do, is it feasible to...

Why do some stones gray and get spotty and some do not?

Posted by: Stefanie Brawner, Pretty Snazzy Vintage Jewelry & Supplies

18 May 2013

Why do some stones get spotty and/or gray and others do not? For a long time the commonly accepted answer was that water had gotten under the stones. Not always so said Frank Delizza several years ago. He told us that many times it was actually the from how well the plating process had been done.

Foiled rhinestones have a reflective coating on them. When that foil starts to separate from the stone in some areas it will look spotty. If the foil is separating from the stone overall, it will cause the stone to look gray. Once the foil comes off of a stone there is no easy way to replace it.

According to Mr. Delizza, the raw metal setting were set with the stones and all necessary pieces were soldered together. Only...

Swarovski Rhinestone Colors - Black, Grays and Clear

Posted by: Stefanie Brawner, Pretty Snazzy Vintage Jewelry & Supplies

17 April 2013

Here are some of the black, gray and clear shades that Swarovski has used over the years. Since Swarovski adds colors all of the time, there are going to be new colors that are missing from this chart. Swarovski also discontinues colors over time. These are Swarovski's original color swatches. Please keep in mind that the color on your screen could be different from the actual color. the colors shown are black diamond, crystal, shadow crystal, morion and jet black (opaque).

Rhinestone Shapes - Round Stones

Posted by: Stefanie Brawner, Pretty Snazzy Vintage Jewelry & Supplies

16 April 2013

We'll begin our identification of shapes of stones with rounds. There are different names you'll see when you are shopping for round stones - chatons, rivoli, dentelle, brillion etc. These are what they have been named because of design of the stone. It really has to do with the cut of the stone. You will also see article numbers for both Swarovski (Austrian) and Czech (Preciosa) stones. As the companies develop new cuts, they change the article number slightly. We'll go into more explanation what cuts were discontinued and which ones are still around in another blog entry. :-)

Vintage Swarovski Chart

Posted by: Stefanie Brawner, Pretty Snazzy Vintage Jewelry & Supplies

14 April 2013

Here is an old Swarovksi rhinestone chart that I came across. The stones are in settings which have been sewn onto the card. The company was Samuel W Schneider in New York City. Look at the old phone number. This probably dates to the mid 50's or earlier. If anyone has old Swarovski, Czech etc catalogs, salesman's samples, charts, please let me know. I'm always interested in those bits of history!

Brand new blog for vintage jewelry, rhinestones, repairs and the like

Posted by: Stefanie Brawner, Pretty Snazzy Vintage Jewelry & Supplies

14 April 2013

Welcome to the blog for Pretty Snazzy! This is where you will find all kinds of information about vintage jewelry (including patents), rhinestones (including Swarovski, Czech, French etc), jewelry supplies, repairs and more!

Here is a little bit about my background. I've been doing vintage jewelry since 1999. The Trifari bracelet pictured was the very first piece I ever sold. In about 2000, I noticed how many pieces I had that were missing a stone or two (or more!). I started accumulating stones. One day I told my husband that I was going to sell rhinestones. He told me, "They'll never sell." I told him "Yes they will. Just wait and see.". They did sell! Everything I made on them went right back into buying more. I was very...